My Ebenezer
Ebenezer, the word and Ebenezer, the fictitious person have remained on my mind for days now, and that mixed with thoughts of my last post has resulted in the inspiration to tell some more miracles from my life. For aren't we all Ebenezer at heart? Maybe not grumpy, stingy, mean old Scrooge, but the man who needed divine intervention to change. Don't we all have the ability to raise an Ebenezer in gratitude to the divine when we witness even the smallest of miracles? When you think of your divine interventions I hope you will think of Ebenezer Scrooge and his divine help. It is my hope that the word Ebenezer will stick in your mind as it has mine, and that you will remember the connection that maybe isn't so coincidental. Here are some tales of Ghosts of my Christmas past, or divine interventions of my past.................
I almost died on Christmas about 6 years ago......or I thought I might. I had to work Christmas day and I had just returned to work from maternity leave with my newborn baby boy. There were some really bad snowstorms in the previous days, but the worst happened Christmas Eve night. It was a Doozy! I should not have attempted to drive to work that morning, but I woke up earlier than usual thinking I could get there before the snow piled up even worse. The snow plows usually were out and taking care of cleaning major roads and highways, but it was Christmas, so they probably figured they could start later since less people would be on the roads. The night truly was silent.......It actually reminded me of I am Legend or some other dystopian book or movie. It was surreal. I literally felt like I was the last person alive on the planet. There were cars abandoned on the side of roads stuck in snow banks......it was kind of creepy. The roads had not been cleared. They were covered in ice from previous days' storms and the fresh snow of this storm. It was snowing and if you went faster than 15 miles per hour, it felt like you were a passenger on the Millenium Falcon that just kicked into hyper drive! You couldn't see more that 10 feet in front of you, just the snow whizzing passed like you were traveling at the speed of light through space! I was traveling about 15, maybe 20 miles per hour the entire time. I had driven in storms like this before, in my Dodge Avenger, and I could do it.......yeah it would be fine. It was fine until I got closer to my work.
The highway approaches the east benches of some of the biggest mountains. It always gets hairy up there as the elevation increases. The road also gets a little curvy. It was approaching almost an hour and a half in my car, white knuckles on the steering wheel and I was tense. I was almost to my exit when my car started sliding and my speed started increasing as I was descending the gradual grade down toward my exit at Foothill Drive. The road starts curving to the right and my car is sliding straight forward to the cement barrier that is the only thing between me and a huge drop off, down, down, down. I try steering into the slide, I try steering away from the barrier. I can't steer, I have no control......my car is on a massive ice rink.
My life flashed before my eyes, but when I realize there is nothing I could do I just accepted it, whatever "it" was. This actually kind of surprised me, but I remember thinking "Alright God, if it's my time, then take me, I accept!" I accepted whatever was to happen and I let go of the wheel and closed my eyes bracing myself for a crash into the barrier or through the barrier down to my possible death. This literally was a "Jesus Take The Wheel" moment. Before I knew it the back of my car was sliding forward placing my car perpendicular with the road and the barrier. I was now facing the barrier about a foot in front of it. My car was sliding sideways, my eyes were still closed and my car came to a stop. The snow on the side of the road had brought friction to my car, lovely, lovely friction that stopped my demise. I opened my eyes finding myself and my car intact!
I immediately said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for my life that Christmas day. Was it divine intervention or was it just happenstance? I felt like something special had taken place in that moment, like there were forces working for my good. I was, by all definitions of the word, ALONE. It truly was a silent night that I'll never forget.
A few years after the last experience I was scammed by people claiming to be Microsoft when something went wrong with my computer. I can't really even remember what I was doing on my computer at the time, but it looked like it had been hacked, fake hacked that is. I was provided with a number leading me to help from a company that worked with Microsoft. They told me I needed to buy this protection, security package for $300 for the year.......okay so this was believable and did not seem too far-fetched. A few weeks later they call back and say their company is shutting down and moving to a different country and they need to refund my money. On this day I was planning a lesson for the girls' youth group in my church. It was a huge lesson and I was inspired to do something big. I was pressed for time and had two little ones underfoot. I was having a very frustrating day and the mere thought of dealing with this on that day just frustrated me more. I just wanted it to be over, so I went along. They made it appear that they had deposited a large sum into my bank account because they had restrictions on the amounts they could transfer. They made a good case for how the company worked and it was believable for awhile. They wanted me to pay them the difference in gift cards.........OKAY, that's not suspicious at all.........How stupid could I be?
I can admit this is one of my most embarrassing moments and I still to this day can't believe I went against my better judgement. I work for a company that has a lot of cyber security trainings and I thought I could tell when I was being scammed. I will also give myself some grace because I was at a time in my life when I decided to have more faith in people and be more trusting. These people were also very convincing. They had a logical answer for everything. After getting gift cards for $1500 I asked them if this was a scam, again I got confident reassurance. I assure you I'm smarter than this and I knew in my heart it was a scam, but for some reason I had the biggest Brain Fart humanly possible on this day. I was blinded by my frustration! I have not done too many stupid things in my life and this definitely takes the cake for dumbest things I've done! When looking back on this, I could see how they continued to prey on my fear and they provided me with confident answers. Later I called Microsoft and confirmed this was indeed a scam and they checked my computer finding no malware, luckily.
That was the blow to my heart and soul and solidified my pure stupidity. "Did You Think to Pray" came to mind and I'm ashamed to say i did not. I was able to get the initial charge to my credit card back, but that was it. Honestly, I was more angry by the fact that they wasted precious time I could have had with my kids. They caused me so much frustration and not to mention, made me look like a complete fool. Here comes the miracle, are you ready? While wallowing in my shame and lack of judgement, I have these words come to my mind "the money will come back to you." The next week I learn that I'm getting a 3% market adjustment to my pay and a month later I get another 3% raise, totaling 6% added to my pay at work. Happy story, THE END..........no not the end.
I get the great privilege to speak to these little scammers. They call me back later and I give them a piece of my mind........I don't even let them speak. I tell them I'm more mad about the time lost with my kids and that is preposterous and unacceptable! I tell them how horrible they are for stealing money and time from little children. Surprisingly, then don't hang up, they listened.......or maybe they put the phone down. I hang up and then when I decide I have more to say I call them back and continue my lecture! I tell them that when they get caught and go to prison they should get a copy of the Book of Mormon and read because THEY WILL NEED IT TO SAVE THEIR SOULS!!!!! A week after that, they actually dare to call me again..........so this time I tell them I have a friend at the FBI that tapped my phone, so the more they call me, the more information the FBI gets and the more numbers they can trace, HA-HA!!!! That was satisfying! That was a fabulous opportunity! Let's be honest, this isn't too far from the truth, we all have connections to the FBI, they do listen to our phones all the time..........whether they are your friend or not, is up for debate...........so I wasn't lying, really!
I have to say I'm grateful for the whole experience because I learned a lot, and gained more knowledge and wisdom. I learned how to file a report with the FBI and did just that. What a miracle it was! Even in my weakness and shame Heavenly Father still manifested Himself in my life. Despite maybe not deserving it, He still provided and made up my loss over time. I also had an opportunity to share the gospel, which was interesting, it just kind of came out of me without premeditation. Maybe that too was divine intervention.
A few years ago I was headed to work in the very early hours of the morning......or is it late night? On this morning it felt more like night than morning. I believe it was in the spring and must have been on a weekend day because I was the only car on the road. While heading to work I remember thinking that "This morning seems darker than usual". I noticed some street lights were flickering on the road and some were even out, darkening the road. As I was taking my normal cruise east on 6200 South I was approaching a stoplight, the stoplight intersection I'll never forget. There was a few schools nearby and a walking bridge over the stoplight for pedestrians to cross when the road gets too busy.
I was still a distance off from the light, but saw it was green, I was approaching it at the speed limit. I saw a woman in a long, white, flowing dress. She looked like she could be heading to work or to the temple, maybe, but we were not near any temples, they were all a good ways off. She did not look or turn her head. She had a shoulder bag, maybe a book bag. I could not see her feet and she moved almost as if she were gliding. She had really short brown hair and her head was tilted slightly down. I don't really remember anything about her face. It was odd! I thought it very strange that she was out walking somewhere at 5am in the morning and crossing on a green light in a peculiar attire. Was she a runaway bride? It just didn't fit! I rarely see people at that time in the morning crossing streets........sometimes I see a few at a bus stop. She must have saw me coming? I just kept my eye on her as I came closer to the light. Just as she reached the other side of the road, the light was still green, I saw other movement in the crosswalk and slammed my breaks!!!! There was a group of 4 kids, my car went right between them. They were all probably young teenagers and dressed in black, or dark clothing. I did not see them until they were within my headlights, it was too late to stop in front of them. Two of them saw me and stopped, the other 2 ran to get across. I stopped my car and looked at both pairs of kids, trying to take in what just happened. It all happened so fast and they were stunned, just standing there. I had to stop and think if it felt like I had hit one of them, almost as if I didn't know what just happened. At this point I was questioning my own senses. I looked to my right where the lady in white just crossed, she was gone. No lady in white continued to walk up the street with her flowing dress covering her feet, giving her an angelic, even ghostly appearance. I had just seen her seconds before, where did she go?
After thinking about this experience over and over I still believe there was something unearthly about it. I thought, if I were walking on a dark street by myself and I heard someone, even kids behind me, I might look their way............If I were crossing at a light that was green and saw a car coming I might hurry a little faster through the intersection......maybe even look in the direction of the car to gage the time I had to get through. Then, if I heard screeching tires on pavement and kids running, I might stop and look back, just to see what the commotion was. If I heard anyone behind me on a dark morning, I might even walk faster. This lady did none of the sort, just walked straight ahead, steady paced like she was unaware of the world around her.
She was an angel, a warning, guiding me and those kids away from danger. Was she an angel in the sense that she was just a random person out that morning, in the right place at the right time? Or was I privileged to see someone not of my realm? I'm not sure, maybe I'll never know for sure, but I am truly indebted to her for being a beacon in the dark. If I had not seen her, I probably would not have seen those kids at all. Whoever she was or is, or wherever she came from, she was a form of divine help. Sometimes divine help comes through people like you and me. I know that when God prompts someone and they act on that prompting it can be a great source of divine help! Divine help is all around us.
Ebenezer Scrooge, after receiving his divine assistance became a divine helping hand and an answer to prayers for others. We can be that too! If you feel inspired or inclined to do good or to help others in any way, you are answering prayers. Giving of yourself is a divine attribute that we all have and we are an extension of His hands, God's hands, Christ's hands. If we serve others, we are serving God. Divine assistance can come in many ways and forms.
I hope that with this Christmas season you will choose to raise your Ebenezer.....To commemorate your divine assistance in gratitude by giving of yourself, your time and talents. I know that God can magnify our efforts and make things work for our good and for others' good! You will be an answer to someone's prayer, an extension of God's love, a beacon in the darkness, a helping hand, and you will bring hope to this world!
"God bless us every one!"
Comments
Post a Comment